2008 US Presidential Poll Part 2

[Lardmeister]

We are down to the finish stretch, most likely only two folks to choose from. I have added 'Other' if you don't like any of the two, and you want to write in your own favorite like Captain Kirk, Tammy Baker or such.

[VernonDozier]

We are down to the finish stretch, most likely only two folks to choose from. I have added 'Other' if you don't like any of the two, and you want to write in your own favorite like Captain Kirk, Tammy Baker or such.

I'm wondering whether "Other" will raise his/her head in this election and have an effect. Folks who vote for Captain Kirk and Tammy Bakker probably don't have an effect since they're, one, not very many of them, and two, probably don't siphon more votes from Obama than McCain or vice-versa. I'm thinking more about the Perot/Nader factor, which can really swing an election. Perot is gone and Michael Bloomberg has decided not to run, but I understand Nader's going for it again. I wonder if he'll have the same election-tilting influence he had in 2000? Somehow I doubt it. I've talked to several Nader voters from 2000 and they all want to take their vote back and give it to Gore.

[Ene Uran]

Well Tammy Faye Bakker is not alive any more, maybe all those dead voters can vote for her.

However, perpetual sourpuss Ralph Nader is very much alive, and he could play the usual diversion. He likes to impeach Dick and Bush. If all the folks that hate Bush would vote for him, he would win! He has some good ideas, but I don't think he has the whole picture.

[Ancient Dragon]

I'm 75% certain that I will vote for Obama. I don't want someone who is 7 years older than I am to be President. He needs to be in a nursing home, not the white house. Even French President Charic was only 62 when he was first elected as president.

[Ezzaral]

I think Nader's potential to be a spoiler has dwindled to insignificance this time around.

[vmanes]

Where's Pat Paulsen when we need him?

[VernonDozier]

Where's Pat Paulsen when we need him?

Judging from your tag line:

What we really need is a moment of SCIENCE in the public schools!

I'm guessing you think we "need" him in the hope that he siphons off votes from the Religious Right so the Religious Right loses, not that we "need" him as president. You're a teacher, right?

[Edit]
Misread your post. I thought you wrote "Pat Robertson". Guess there's a difference. However, it would be cool to have someone as president who can leg press 2,000 pounds.
[/Edit]

[vmanes]

....someone as president who can leg press 2,000 pounds.

Huh?

[VernonDozier]

Huh?

A few years ago Pat Robertson was pushing some special Power Shake that supposedly helped him with his vitality. You too could buy it for however much money and with any luck, it would do for you what it did for him. Supposedly this shake gave a 73 year old man the strength to leg press 2000 pounds, which was about 600+ pounds over the previous world record. When some people grilled him on it, he kind of backed off of the claim a bit and said that his whole point was to encourage people his age that they too can get in shape, which is fine but I still thought he looked pretty dumb for saying it.

[hammerhead]

I'm 75% certain that I will vote for Obama. I don't want someone who is 7 years older than I am to be President. He needs to be in a nursing home, not the white house. Even French President Charic was only 62 when he was first elected as president.

Aren't older people supposed to be wiser and all? I dont see how age is relevant. If things go the way they are in India, we might have a 81 year old Prime Minister next time.

[Ene Uran]

Working in a medical facility I can tell you this:
"There are 81 year olds that are relatively bright, but the bulk of them are not!"

Did you ever watch McCain in his speeches and wonder why he smiles at the wrong times? It's unreal!

[Ancient Dragon]

The President of the USA is an fraightening job because it is physically and mentally exhausting. Every president ages about 8 (or more) years during his 4-year term. I doubt there is a more difficult job in the world than the job of being the President of USA.

[Ene Uran]

I think actually fighting the wars for the President is much more difficult.

[bumsfeld]

The June 11 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll:
Obama leads McCain among registered voters, 47 to 41 percent.

That proves that McCain is not just another Bush, otherwise he should be around 28 percent.

[Lardmeister]

McCain is not like Bush, he doesn't support torture of prisoners.

[Ancient Dragon]

Two problems I have with McCain
1) he is too old

2) his assertion that we will continue that war in Iraq for another 100 years!

[Dave Sinkula]

2) his assertion that we will continue that war in Iraq for another 100 years!

That's the kind of demagoguery that I am supposedly doing.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/dnc_vs_mccain.html
:cool:

[GrimJack]

McCain is not like Bush, he doesn't support torture of prisoners.

I beg to differ - McCain voted against the anti-torture amendment:
Senator McCain rightly insists that the U.S. may not (i) torture; (ii) engage in cruel treatment prohibited by Common Article 3; or (iii) engage in conduct that shocks the conscience, under the McCain Amendment. He also insists that waterboarding violates each of these legal restrictions, that the Bush Administration's legal analysis has been dishonest and flatly wrong, and that we need "a good faith interpretation of the statutes that guide what is permissible in the CIA program."

The Feinstein Amendment would have accomplished all of these objectives, but Senator McCain voted against it, presumably because he wishes that the CIA be permitted to continue the use of other of its enhanced techniques, apart from waterboarding. Those techniques are reported to include stress positions, hypothermia, threats to the detainee and his family, severe sleep deprivation, and severe sensory deprivation. Senator McCain has not explained which of these he thinks are not torture and cruel treatment, nor which he would wish to preserve for use by the CIA. But if the President does as he has promised and follows Senator McCain's lead by vetoing this bill, the CIA will continue to assert the right to use all of these techniques -- and possibly waterboarding, as well.

[ZZucker]

Where's Pat Paulsen when we need him?

Patrick Layton Paulsen (July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997) was an American comedian notable for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996.

Presidential Campaign Slogan: "If elected, I will win."

Well, Pat is gone, but there are others like Comedy Central's Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, or Bill O'Reilly from Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor. They could be good replacements for John McCain if his senior moments get too numerous.

[Ancient Dragon]

That's the kind of demagoguery that I am supposedly doing.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/dnc_vs_mccain.html
:cool:

One ad shows selected portions of McCain's comments that a 100-year U.S. presence in Iraq would be "fine with me." The ad uses dramatic images of war and violence, and omits any mention that McCain was speaking of a peaceful presence like that in Japan or Korea.

One difference between Iraq and Korea is that the Koreans have not been at war for the past 5,000 years, and the arabs have. I don't see that the Iraq government nor any of the surrounding nations will let us occupy Iraq for 100 years.

[sneekula]

If John McCain starts smiling a lot at times when he really isn't supposed to, a Ron Paul (M.D.) and Bob Barr ticket might be the alternative for the GOP.

[GrimJack]

One difference between Iraq and Korea is that the Koreans have not been at war for the past 5,000 years, and the arabs have.

The Arabs have been at war for the last 5,000 years? I would hope you have some sort of documentation for this. I can find references to Persian/Arab hostilities of that age (but can only vaguely be considered these groups) but since we are talking about Iraq which is predominantly Arab/Muslim, that could only be for the last 1400 years. Muslim vs Muslim did not start until the death of the 3rd Caliph; with his death, different factions chose different 'Caliphs' (the Arabic word for faction is shi'ah - look familiar?). Persians (Iran) are predominantly Shi'a; Arabs are predominantly Sunni (Saudi Arabia, Syria and so on). Iraq can be thought of as the frontier between Sunni/Arab and Shi'a/Persian worlds. This does not include the 2 other major Muslim factions - most have heard of Sufism which is sort of where the Kurds fall. Kurds are more of an ethnolinguistic group as there are Kurdish Christians, Muslims, and Jews. They speak Aramaic as their first language and also the language of the local majority (btw, the first mention of the Kurds was about 3,000 BCE.

Er, but I digress...
Um, this is only a rough approximation, okay

[sundaeGURL]

Republicans speak about the rights of individuals but then consider that it is wrong for individuals to organize into strong labor unions and call the union's leadership union bosses. Looking at their most recent speeches, in PollClash They also decry labor union's collective bargaining contracts and promote what they call State's Right to Work Laws instead.

[Ancient Dragon]

The Arabs have been at war for the last 5,000 years? I would hope you have some sort of documentation for this.

Yes I have -- I have personally witnessed it for that long :) But seriously, no -- the 5,000 years should have been an obvious streatch of the imagination. Could have sait 5 billion years as well.

[Lardmeister]

All that John McCain needs to do to win the election is to pick Condoleezza Rice as VP. She complements him very well, she is young, very smart and will win female votes all over.

[GrimJack]

I don't think that C. Rice can live down the mistakes of the Bush admininistration, from her failures in security to failures in state, and diplomacy.

[Dave Sinkula]

I dunno. She might play well against National Security Advisor Winnie-the-Pooh. :icon_razz:

[Dave Sinkula]

All that John McCain needs to do to win the election is to pick Condoleezza Rice as VP. She complements him very well, she is young, very smart and will win female votes all over.

Well, there goes that. Video: Rice says her “time is up” :icon_razz:

[vmanes]

In the opening poll, I voted "Other".

Here's my Other, since Pat Paulsen is no longer with us.

[Ene Uran]

Well, there goes that. Video: Rice says her “time is up” :icon_razz:

Well, she might go for it if someone can explain to her that a vice president doesn't necessarily have to be the secretive troll in the basement type.